Several electronic and optical architectures of such LED-based assemblies have been proposed and implemented in light products or systems over the course of the last few years. Some of them struggle with cost, manufacturability and maintenance.
The cost-control, when designing a light system, is indeed becoming crucial, while in the mean time the light system performance must be optimized.
In LED-based luminaires, it is preferred to have all LEDs connected onto a single printed circuit board (“PCB”) for handling and releding reasons. PCB is fixed to the chassis and optical elements, or an optical board including optical elements, are also fixed to the chassis through the PCB to cover the LEDs.
The chassis (e.g. a heat sink) has usually a clean and good-finished interface with the PCB to insure a good thermal contact. For a large-sized PCB, these requirements involve extra-costs—e.g. foundry costs.
Furthermore, a high number of types of PCBs and optics needs to be provided to comply with the various designs and specifications of LED-based systems or luminaires. This diversity of PCBs and optics can be a serious handicap in an industrial environment as a factory can end up with a shortage of useful components inducing a longer delivery lead time for the product, and the unused components may stay in stock for some time which is undesirable in a Lean environment.